Sophie Says: Trip up

Gramps Says Have you ever wondered where, when or why certain common phrases originated? For instance was ‘nose dive’ used before the Wright Brothers success at Kitty Hawk? The words ‘trip up’ are interesting and let me tell you why. After dark on a Wednesday fall evening I was walking west on Anderson Avenue when I was’ tripped up,’ took a ‘nose dive’ and ‘belly flopped ‘on Hemenway Street. Have you ever seen anyone trip up when in fact ‘tripped down’ better describes what happens. After ‘pulling myself together’ and investigating the cause of the misfortune I noticed that there is a 3 and a half inch high riser or step up running across the side walk. As a ‘lay- man’ (groan) I could see no practical reason for this raised area but I am sure that a trained and experienced engineer has a logical explanation. A telephone pole takes up about half of the sidewalk at the location of the step up, therefor I surmise that the City does not consider this abrupt change of elevation a full-fledged hazard but it is in fact a ‘half baked’ hazard. Sophie Says Hey Gramps, I noticed that you took this matter up with City Hall. I don’t see what all the fuss is about. I only have 2 inches of clearance from my belly to the sidewalk plus a sensitive back and I have no trouble navigating the obstacle. I just ‘hop to it.’ Dear reader, please forgive me for the ‘hop to it’. As you can see, Gramps is a bad influence.]]>